Getting Around North Korea

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We left Pyongyang on a train bound for Beijing at shortly after 10am in the morning. The last two carriages on this train where going all the way while the rest of the train would terminate at the Chinese border at Dandong. There were 12 people in my tour party, so we had three 4-berth compartments. Just before we departed, we said our goodbyes to our two tour guides who gave us back our mobile phones which were taken off us when we went through security checks after we had arrived at Pyongyang airport. The train itself was fine and it seems to be OK to take photos from it as long as you're not too blatant. The train has a buffet car we tried out where the food was OK - fish, rice, veg etc. We arrived at the border at about 4pm, after going through mostly flat and plain landscapes of rice paddy fields, and this is where the fun began. North Korean border guards got on border and took our passports with them to be checked. This took some time. A guard then came to our compartment and asked for camera's. This wasn't a good sign. He started with mine and I had a horrible few minutes sitting opposite him thinking that he would delete all my pictures. Lucky for me, he started going through a couple of thousand photo's I had taken in China at the beginning and so didn't have time to get to the one's I had taken in North Korea. What a relief!!! We got our passports back and went over the river that flows between North Korea and China. The difference between the two countries is stark.

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This was one of the main things I was looking forward to in Pyongyang - a ride on the city's metro. Firstly, we entered down some steps off a street into Yonggwang station which is located just to the north of the main overland railway station. We hung around by some ticket barriers waiting for our guides to get coin tokens which cost 5 won each (about 4 US cents). We were shown an electrically operated map on the wall which showed us 2 lines - the north-south Chollima line (named after a mythical flying horse, the Korean Pegasus) and east-west Hyoksin (Renovation) line. When you pressed a certain button at the button of the map, the relevant station would light up to tell you its location - futuristic stuff! There are 17 known stations altogether, although it is believed that more lines and secret stations exist for military and government officials. Stations have names like Paradise (Rakwon), Triumph (Jonsung), Renovation (Hyoksin) and Reunification (Tongli) which beat our boring station names like Baker Street and Paddington on the London Underground! The whole metro system is entirely underground and is the world's deepest with many stations being more than 100 metres below the surface. We were lead down a step, long escalator with no advertising on the walls unlike any other metro system I've been on and reached the platforms which features lovely wall murals and sculptures. The best thing at this particular station are the enormous chandeliers which are coloured pink, green and yellow. A train came in to the station whilst we were taking everything in and taking photo's and a whole crowd of well dressed people got off and walked past us without taking much notice of us in jeans, t-shirts and shorts! It is said that all of this is staged for each tourist visit and it did have a Trueman Showesque about it. Make the most of this as it'll be your only time that you get to mix with 'everyday' North Koreans. Yonggwang station features columns that are shaped like Olympic torches with arches sprouting out of the top, which look like flames. After spending about 10-15 minutes on the concourse, we got on a train which had the portraits of the Kim's looking down on you and then got off at the next station. I've added a short video taken by tour cameraman. More excellent information can be found by visiting the website below.

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Both the trolleybuses and trams are just like the ones I saw in St Petersburg. The tram system runs for 53km (33 miles) whilst the trolleybus system runs for 150km (93 miles). One thing that I noticed is that waiting passengers seem to face in the opposite direction to where the tram or trolleybus was coming from, which I didn't understand and thought was a bit strange. Also, given the power shortages that happen in the city, they must have plenty of delays. Of course, you're not allowed the opportunity to ride of them.

This was our rather inconspicuous tour bus throughout our tour around North Korea. It stands out like a sore thumb doesn't it?! We were allowed to open the windows in order to take photos from it which I thought wouldn't be possible to do and as a consequence, I took some 600 photos of Pyongyang alone. Funny thing is, given that the Japanese occupied Korea and the hardships that they brought on the people, the bus is actually Japanese and right-hand drive. It even had Japanese Yokohama tyres.

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Apart from Air China, the only other way in to North Korea by air is with their national carrier - Air Koryo - infamous for being the only airline to be rated 1 star currently by Skytrax. As part of my trip itinerary, I flew in from Beijing with Air Koryo on an old looking Russian plane called an Ilyushin II-62M that, I think, was built in the 1970's. The first photo of it is at Beijing whilst the 2nd and 3rd are at Pyongyang. I sat next to two German ladies, one of which has been working in North Korea for the last couple of years helping them out with agriculture as they have suffered from bad floods in recent years. The plane was surprisingly fairly full with a mixture of western and Chinese tourists and businessmen and North Koreans allowed out on good behaviour in order to do business with the Chinese.

I got given two pieces of reading material - the first was called "The Pyongyang Times" which was a very thin A3 newspaper with a few photos on the front of Kim Jong Il visiting some industrial complex. The date at the top was Saturday, May 31, Juche 97 (2008). Juche is the official state ideology of North Korea which was developed by Kim Il Sung. Juche 97 is 97 years after his birth in 1912. The second piece of reading material was a nice large A3 glossy magazine with some very nice photo's, some of which look very staged and look like they could have come straight out of a 1970's fashion catalogue. The first sentence I read from it was "Korea fell into ruins owing to the three-year war (June 1950-July 1953) provoked by the US imperialists." And this was even before we had even landed in North Korea! (there's a website you can visit - see below. Click on "The Pyongyang Times" or “Korea" for online past editions).

Food was served during the flight which was rice, some kind of pork and potato dish with sauce, salad, sponge cake and tinned like fruit. It would have been better if it wasn't all stone cold. Drinks were also served and I helped myself to my first introduction to North Korean beer which was frothy and strong tasting. We came in to land over 100's of rice paddy fields with dark brown soil in the middle of nowhere with just a few buildings dotted around, after being in the air for a couple of hours. We all then got off and headed to the small terminal building full of guards and airport officials. Passport control was a breeze and then I had to wait for my bag which was then scanned through an X-ray machine. I was asked if I was carrying a mobile phone or a laptop to which I replied no and I then walked out to where my fellow tour members were waiting beside a small bus. I managed to get my copy of Lonely Planet Korea through but I had to show my camera and iPod which I then took through with me. Easy! I was expecting a full bag search and for it to take ages but there was no such thing. People even got their laptops back but mobile phones were confiscated, only to be returned at the end of the trip.

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We took the train leaving the DPRK from Pyongyang to Beijing. The train leaves at 10:00 AM and takes about 22-23 hrs. The cabins were quite comfortable and there is a dining car. The train stops in Sinuiju (DPRK side) for immigration around 3PM. We were able to get off the train here for an hour and had a beer at a microbrewery in the station. The train then crosses the Yalu river to Dandong for Chinese immigration and they attach more cabins and a Chinese dining car. Altogether it took about 3 hrs for immigration on both sides. The train continues overnight and arrives at the Beijing main station around 9AM.

Buses are usually overcrowded. Trams often stand in one place due to electricity shortage. People just sit outside and wait. Or sitting inside and wait. Or walk. You'll see so many people walking.
Local transport is just for your camera, not for you.

When you are touring through the cities or the country side, you will no doubt notice a sever lack of vehicles on the road.

Reasons are simple mostly... economics. Only a select few can afford cars, and even fewer can afford fuel. Fuel is the most common concession during negotiations with foreign countries.

However, if you thought there were few cars on the road on most days, Sunday will truly show you the possibilities. It is illegal to drive on Sunday in DPRK, unless you have prior authorization. That means that only the rich and/or influential people will be on the roads on Sunday.

As another point of control over the masses, DPRK institutes a 6-day work week. The one day they have as holiday (Sunday) is limited due to the fact that they cannot freely travel anywhere. Buses are full on these days and times required for a day trip negate most of the options.